Needham & Company LLC Has Lowered Expectations for Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Price

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) had its price target cut by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC from $95.00 to $90.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "buy" rating on the communications equipment provider's stock. Needham & Company LLC's price objective would suggest a potential upside of 40.90% from the company's current price.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on CIEN. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on Ciena from $94.00 to $79.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ciena from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $88.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $82.00 target price (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $77.23.

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Ciena Stock Down 2.5 %

CIEN opened at $63.88 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 112.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72. The business has a 50-day moving average of $83.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $73.27. Ciena has a 12 month low of $43.30 and a 12 month high of $101.44.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 4.72% and a net margin of 2.09%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.56 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Ciena will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 13,600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.66, for a total value of $1,137,776.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 425,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,618,161.34. This trade represents a 3.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.96, for a total value of $1,436,843.52. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 59,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,042,121.12. This trade represents a 22.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 63,442 shares of company stock valued at $5,337,764 over the last ninety days. 0.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ciena by 108.6% in the fourth quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Ciena by 925.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Ciena by 328.2% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 364 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ciena by 73.7% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the period. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 77.2% in the 4th quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ciena Company Profile

Ciena Corporation provides hardware and software services for delivery of video, data, and voice traffic metro, aggregation, and access communications network worldwide. The company's Networking Platforms segment offers convergence of coherent optical transport, open optical networking, optical transport network switching, IP routing, and switching services.

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